


Čåŕţ

by Ghostietea



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Akito gets to ride in the shopping cart., As usual Akito's hubris and ignorance prove Akito's downfall, Crack, Fruits basket spoilers, Gen, Hatori Sohma: chief babysitter of problem children, Hatori is so tired guys, Humor, Pre Canon, that's it that's the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25369774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostietea/pseuds/Ghostietea
Summary: When u don't want ur horrible babysitting charge to wreak havoc in the store so u make them ride in the basket of the cart lmao am I right?
Relationships: Sohma Hatori & Sohma Akito
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Čåŕţ

Most people thought Akito Sohma had never been inside a supermarket. Of course, she was extremely sheltered and hadn't been most places, but this time they were wrong. She _had_ been inside a supermarket. Once. 

When Hatori said he was leaving for a snack run and Akito had _insisted_ on going along for some unknown reason he should have known to shut it all down right then. Faked passing out and being sick or something because heavens knows she wouldn't listen if he said no. But frankly he was rather tired and didn't want to bother, so he just sorta walked to his car and didn't protest when Akito followed him. 

The ride over was mercifully quiet, which was good because if it wasn't Hatori may have just pulled over and laid face down in the grass on the side of the road. It had been a long, long week. People had gotten sick, Akito had caused problems (as usual, being your much younger dysfunctional boss's babysitter is always _fun_ ), Ayame had caused arguably more problems, and Momiji needed help studying for his midterms. Hatori vaguely remembered sleeping like 2 days ago and his eyes stung and his limbs felt shaky. He almost missed the turn to the supermarket and had to swerve fast, causing Akito to shriek really loud ( _is she trying to make me deaf too?_ ). Without much ceremony, Hatori managed to park and exit the car, Akito following behind him with many sharp complaints about his driving. 

As they approached the entrance Akito drew closer, grabbing onto the back of his jacket and staying behind him like he was her shield from whatever was in the store. _Having second thoughts, are we?_ Hatori knew Akito had never been into the store before, and he had the distinct feeling that her coming along was more of a spur of the moment impulse than something she'd actually thought through. He paused by the door, planning to say something to her before they went in (though he didn't know what yet), but as soon as he stood still she slumped against him, burying her face in the back of his jacket. "I don't like this place," Akito mumbled "it's nasty and rundown and gaudy and if I'm in there too long I think I'll feel sick." 

Hatori was starting to have a bad feeling about bringing her along. Sure, if Akito was in a bad mood she'd just cling to him and be a bother for a bit, but then she'd probably dejectedly slip away to God (ha) knows were before he'd even notice and cause all sorts of problems, and Hatori really wasn't up for that. It would be all his fault if that hell child was released on the store. Besides, he did still have some residual fondness for Akito even beyond the curse, in a tired babysitter sort of way, and he legitimately didn't want her to be upset. Of course he could just drive her home and come back, but he really wasn't sure he could handle the extra trip before he replenished his stash of double strength coffee shots, and he needed to go into the supermarket for that.

Then Hatori got an idea. Hatori got a horrible, wonderful idea. 

"Hey, Akito." Hatori said, turning and pushing Akito away from him so he could look at her while he talked.

"Yes?" The younger Sohma replied grumpily. 

"You see those" Hatori said, gesturing to the lineup of brightly colored shopping carts by the door "I wouldn't want to make you walk the whole way, I can push you around in one of those." 

Akito's gaze flicked to the carts and then back to Hatori. "People are carried around in those things?"

"Yes." _Well, little kids are._ "At least, uhh-" _Oh still functional braincell please figure out how to sell this to her-_ "at least people who are important enough to have someone to push them around are." 

Now Akito was staring at the carts intently, not even looking at Hatori. _Seems like she actually does want to ride in there, good for me._ After another moment of deliberation she turned back to Hatori. "Well then, it is only respectful for you to do so, push me in the wheel basket, dragon." 

Hatori easily hoisted her into the basket of the cart, still rather pleased with himself, and entered the store as confidently as anyone on -16 hours of sleep could and made a beeline for the snack aisle. For her part, Akito looked rather smug about getting to ride in the cart, still probably thinking it was an honor and not something usually relegated to small kids (or maybe she just thought it was fun, Hatori distantly remembered liking getting to ride in the cart the like two times his parents had taken him to the store). _I just need to make sure she doesn't find out I put her in there so she can't easily cause problems._ But that was a problem for near future Hatori, for now he was shoving snacks in the cart while Akito gawked at everything in a mix of wide eyed curiosity and suspicion.

_We must make quite the pair,_ Hatori thought, _one half dead man in a lab coat pushing an edgy teen around in a shopping cart._ A few people stared at them as they proceeded through the store, which made Akito anxious, which led to her glaring at the passersby like she was trying to burn a hole through their skull. Hatori really couldn't care less at this point, he had more pressing matters to attend to, like whether to get original or sea salt vinegar flavored chips. 

Hatori had a close call in the checkout line, where the cashier looked dangerously close to asking why he has someone so old in his cart, but otherwise he got out relatively peacefully. All in all, not a terrible store trip. Hatori just hoped that Akito never finds out who normally gets to ride in the shopping cart.

**Author's Note:**

> • This came to be after the Kureno ep and me and my brother where discussing what would happen if Akki did go to the store and I was just like "HATORI TRICKS HER INTO RIDING IN THE CART" and my brother was like "WRITE IT"  
> • Akito is even more sheltered than Kureno (didn't even go to school) and even Kureno doesn't know what a basket is so...  
> • after writing this I remembered hearing something about Japanese shopping carts being smaller... oops  
> • I know plenty of people who have ridden in the cart for fun well into their teens if they can get one of their friends to push them... Akito would not be one of those people.   
> • This is pre canon but idk by how far  
> • Fun fact! I put this horrible thing on my drive so I could send it to my friend and I found out too late that it was in the drive folder that I used as an art portfolio to send to a zine :) I will never know if it got there before or after my application was reviewed:)


End file.
